Sunday, July 17, 2016

Yesterday RNC chairman Reince
Priebus flatly denied that ex-gay torture is part of the 2016 GOP
platform even though it was preliminarily approved last week thanks to
Tony Perkins. From the Associated Press:

Priebus denied that language inserted into a draft of the
party platform encourages “conversion therapy,” which religious
conservatives believe can stop gay people from being gay. The new
language, which has yet to be adopted by the full convention, reads, “We
support the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or
therapy, for their minor children.”

Asked whether the Republican Party supports “conversion therapy,”
Priebus charged, “It’s not in the platform.” GOP officials are eager to
shift the focus of next week’s event away from divisive social issues.
Such issues, while popular with conservatives who wield outsize
influence in Republican primary contests, are less popular among the
more moderate voters and independents who typically decide general
elections.

An amendment offered by the Family Research Council’s
Tony Perkins in the subcommittee on healthcare, education, and crime
offered support for the controversial practice of “conversion therapy”
for children who identify as LGBT.

“We support the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or
therapy, for their minor children,” the amendment said. Perkins
originally drafted a more explicit embrace of the practice, but amended
the text after consultations with top RNC officials.

Perkins also won a bid to add the word “therapy” to the
platform, making it read “we support the right of parents to determine
the proper medical treatment or therapy for their minor children.” That
was read as a move to allow conversion therapy, a controversial practice
that attempts to convert youths away from being gay, that has been
banned by some state and local governments.

“It’s what it says, it’s whatever therapy that a parent wants to get
for a minor child,” Perkins said when asked about the change. “There’s
states that are trying to restrict what parents can do for loving their
children. Parents have a better idea I think than legislators or
government bureaucrats.”

The cited language is ambiguous and does not expressly
identify conversion by name, but many onlookers nonetheless believe
there is no other reasonable interpretation of Perkins’ proposal. The
draft faces at least two more tests before officially becoming part the
party’s platform, and thus far its myriad issues remained unapproved.

“Every four years gay Republicans
slime out from under their rocks to remind us that the Democratic
candidate wasn’t always perfect on LGBT issues. They then implicitly
(and sometimes explicitly) pivot to this nonsensical argument: Since
your guy/gal wasn’t always perfect on LGBT issues, the LGBT community should vote for the Republican who was terrible on LGBT issues then, is terrible on LGBT issues now, and who has pledged, if elected, to remain terrible on LGBT issues forever.“Lying, delusional, self-hating shitbags can’t open their mouths without lying and attempting to delude.

“Every four years we’re subjected to
the same insipid news stories about the efforts of the Log Cabin
Republicans. Credulous reporters, some too young to realize what they’re
being asked to re-regurgitate, tell us gay Republicans are hopeful!
This could be the year! This could be the the year their nominee doesn’t
return their checks! This could be the year their nominee doesn’t
refuse to meet with them! This could be the year their nominee doesn’t
deny the existence of their families! Gay Republicans are praised for
trying to ‘change their party from within’ and then…

“Nothing changes. Their party never
changes. All the GOP candidates for president take the same old bigoted
positions. It never gets any better. But no one who writes up the
efforts of Log Cabin Republicans to change their party ever thinks to
examine the results. There’s never an accountability moment for the
cocksucking wing of the ‘party of personal responsibility’.” – Dan Savage, writing for The Stranger.

“Due to traumas of
humiliation, exclusion, and rejection, the human entity develops
self-defense mechanisms. These mechanisms create a negative energetic
current that we often refer to as the ‘no’ current. At the core, these
‘no’s’ are pacts of revenge against those who have hurt us. They are a
foolish way of getting even because these pacts of revenge wind up
creating a series of situations that lead us to suffering. We believe
that by taking revenge we can change the past. However, the past doesn’t
change. It can only be understood and given new meaning through our own
self-knowledge.”

I think in relationships, you create an environment with your own work
on yourself, which you offer to another human being to use to grow in
the way they need to grow. Parents are environments for their children,
lovers are an environment for their partners.

You keep working – you become the soil – moist and soft and receptive so
the person can grow the way they need to grow, because how do you know
how they should grow?

Today I heard a news commentator say that Trump has a “more moderate”
view towards gay rights. Perhaps in relation to Mike Pence, that is
true, but Trump is no friend to the LBBT community, nor is the
Republican Party. I share this so you have accurate information. The Republication party has concluded its platform with two extreme anti-gay planks: 1) Marriage should only be between a man and a woman and encouraging overturning the Supreme Court case legalizing same-sex marriage
2) Based on the lead by the Family Research Council, "conversion" or
"reparative therapy," which purports to "cure" homosexual inclinations
through analysis and, frequently, prayer has been endorsed. With that,
parents are given the right to decide the proper treatment for their
children in this regard. These concepts have been consistently
discredited, and typically criticized. by established mental health
professions Trump has claimed that he knows many gays and lesbians
and “likes the gays and lesbians.” Of course he has said the same about
just about every other group, for example, “the poorly educated” and
disabled. And there’s his one African American man at a recent rally.
While he may like gays and lesbians, he has always opposed same-sex
marriage. Briefly in 2013 he said civil unions would be acceptable, but
he then retreated to opposition to any same sex unions. In an
interview with Chris Wallace this year, Trump said he would appoint
people to the Supreme Court who would overturn the court ruling
legalizing same-sex marriage. Although it would be an unusual
circumstance that would even allow the issue to be reconsidered, it is
Trumps beliefs that are concern. Mike Pence’s record is much more
extremely anti-gay/lesbian. Pence believes that the prominence of gay
couples signals inevitable societal collapse. He actively opposes
same-sex marriage. He also opposes legislation that prohibits workplace
discrimination against LGBT people saying it wages war against freedom
and religion in the workplace.” He also objected to the repeal of “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell.” I’m not an one-issue voter, and the Republicans
have given me a lot to not like, not the least of which is the tenuous
mental health of their Presidential candidate, but I’m not going to vote
against myself or risk returning to unacceptable, outmoded and even
dangerous beliefs. I’m voting for Hillary.